The Goldmake Scam – Don’t Become the Next Victim

Recently, Goldmake.top site surfaced, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably reveals it is, in fact, a fraudulent site.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Goldmake.top does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Goldmake Scam Overview

Originally, Goldmake poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this platform is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, rascals employ AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Goldmake Scam

To begin with, Goldmake repeats the appearance of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Winnifex, Kworeedo or Gettrump. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these scam websites are led by the same gang of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Goldmake Scam Works?

Goldmake is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the identical overall layout. Another shared element are the ways the scams like NAME are promoted, and the manner all this ends up to the victim of the scam. To reach peak efficiency, frauds apply sophisticated psychological tricks that make the user believe in the legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Employing bots and sponsored ads (when possible), scam actors intensify the exposure of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like Goldmake in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users get an incentive to enroll, attracted by the commitment of obtaining cryptocurrency rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, fake suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promos, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Goldmake”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Goldmake, “Start earning with Goldmake – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that getting the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, unaware users happily keep on – especially as the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal info, crooks will not be able to earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just said, frauds bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency purchases require having money on your account. In the case of Goldmake, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the money flow to this scam website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this site hoping to use all the deposited funds and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that scoundrels are naught on intentions to send you money. Though to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal data, frauds just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous other checks you should go through before getting your funds back. And every check will share more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then traded on the Darknet. Never reveal your real info to strangers!

Signs of Scam

I gathered several facts that point at the scammy nature of the Goldmake.top. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Goldmake does not provide any documentation about its ownership, location or registration. No legitimate contact details are given either. Moreover, it appears that the domain and all social network pages were registered quite recently.
• Fake sponsorship from a celebrity. Scams like Goldmake like to pick a celebrity as a sponsor of this entire campaign. For obvious reasons, fraudsters generally choose Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, Mark Zuckerberg, and similar celebrities. They do not disdain claiming partnership with a company as well. Even though Coinbase, Binance or MetaMask never heard of Goldmake, they do not care – this creates a halo of credibility.
• Potential Ponzi Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral system to spread reach through social media. In fact, only the first members will receive the payoff, at the cost of the money brought by other members.
• Hype without facts. Frauds can cheer up their victims from time to time, using claims about non-existent events. “We got contracts with Coinbase”, “Elon Musk mentioned us as the most prolific crypto project” – you could likely hear something like that. This is made to make people believe in their money return. This can be the sauce to make people top-up their accounts once again.
• Crypto-only incoming payments. Whether the user tries to top-up the account, hackers will only accept payments in crypto – no bank transfers or other payment methods. Such an approach completely hides the identity of the company and deprives you of the ability to ask for a refund.
• Claims are too good to be true. Let’s be sane and sober: even in crypto space, there are not many places where you can earn 50-100-200%. Being able to participate in all of them is nearly impossible, as well as it is impossible to insure or hedge all the risks. Even by that reason alone I can tell that the Goldmake is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Goldmake site and fell victim to that scam, there are still some steps to take. They will make further scam attempts harder, and also boost the knowledge about that scam among folks.

• Report to Authorities. Your initial action should involve reporting the scam to local authorities responsible for addressing financial fraud. Additionally, reach out to wallet providers and engage with the technical support teams of social networks. This collective effort raises the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Inform Your Inner Circle. Extend your impact by sharing information about the scam with your close friends. Similar to notifying authorities, this dissemination of details curbs the scammers’ potential to deceive.
• Document the Trail. Assemble a comprehensive record by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. This encompasses the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials offer invaluable leads for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments may not typically align with traditional bank refund policies, it’s worthwhile to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain a positive outlook until you secure confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Insight. Shift your focus from the financial loss to gaining wisdom. Consider your loss as an investment in comprehending the tactics employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their distinctive traits, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant pledges they make. This knowledge equips you to recognize and avoid future traps, minimizing the risk of enduring further financial setbacks.

Scan your system for possible malware infections

Beware of cross scams! Scam actors can use your trust to make you download some stuff or interact with certain documents. It may be a trap that installs malware to your system. There are no moral barriers or limits for these scoundrels.

Throughout the course of the scam, its actors may contact you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously determined, these scammers have no intention of returning your funds. So, what do these email messages and browser add-ons represent? Correct – this is another component of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into willingly running malicious software onto your system.

Both extensions and attachments added to email messages can act as a carrier for diverse malicious software. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always existent. As stated, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to give up and intend to maximize profits.

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